• Relaxed Dustin could stick around at 129/1130.00

• 209/1210.00 Bhatia's bright future could start here

• Knapp may enjoy Valhalla at a huge price of 389/1390.00

This might not be the week to be backing longshots given the world's very best players appear to be in fine fettle and that the front three in the US PGA Championship market all won last time out.

The world number one, Scottie Scheffler, is in search of his fifth win in six starts. The second favourite, Rory McIlroy, is looking to win his third event in-a-row (at a venue he won at 10 years ago), The defending champion, Brooks Koepka, who's looking to win back-to-back tournaments after his success in the LIV Golf Singapore two weeks ago, has won three of the last six editions of this major.

All three have very obvious claims and outsiders haven't got a brilliant recent record in this championship.

Phil Mickelson caused an almighty shock three years ago when he won at Kiawah Island at odds of around 540.0539/1. The only other triple-figure priced winner in the last 12 years is Jimmy Walker, who won at Baltusrol eight years ago at 220.0219/1, but this has been a reasonable event for outsiders this century.

The three winners between 2001 and 2003 - David Toms, Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel - all went off at huge prices, the 2009 champ, Y.E Yang, went off at around 330.0329/1, and Keegan Bradley was matched at a whopping 650.0649/1 before the off in 2011.

I've got three fancies priced up at triple-figures, starting with the former world number one, Dustin Johnson.

Dustin Johnson @ 130.0129/1

The two-time major winner, Dustin Johnson, is very weak in the market and to a certain extent, I can see why.

Out of sight, out of mind as the saying goes and with fewer people watching the LIV Tour, it's perhaps understandable that he's been drifting steadily since being matched at a low of 42.041/1 earlier in the year.

Johnson's form dipped after he won in Las Vegas in February but his seventh last time out behind Koepka in Singapore, where he putted really nicely with rounds of 67-70-66 was eye-catching.

He missed the cut in this championship in 2021 and 2022, having finished runner-up in 2019 and 2020 and last year's 55^th was a disappointing performance too, although he sat second after round one.

He didn't play Valhalla 10 years ago as he was having an extended break from the game due to 'personal issues'. But with a win and two seconds at Glen Abbey, and two top-four finishes at Muirfield Village, he's demonstrated his liking for a Nicklaus design with bentgrass greens and he should love it here.

Rapidly approaching his 40^th birthday, the languid Californian isn't one to get too stressed and if he starts nicely again this year he may just stick around at a huge price.

Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 & 12 Us @ 2.01/1

Akshay Bhatia @ 210.0209/1

If we are to get a longshot winner this week, history tells us that they're likely to be in their 20s, to have won recently, to be inside the top-50 in the Official World Rankings and to be in search of their first major championship success.

One such candidate is 22-year-old Californian, Akshay Bhatia, who's actually looking to win his third PGA Tour event in 23 starts.

He got off the mark in the Barracuda Championship in July last year around the Jack Nicklaus designed Tahoe Mountain and he won his second title last month at the Texas Open, where he impressed me immensely, showing plenty of grit to win.

Having led through rounds one, two and three, Bhatia was six clear at the turn on Sunday but Denny McCarthy put in a remarkable run after that and his birdie four at the last from 12 feet, was his eighth birdie on the back nine and his seventh in-a-row!

Incredibly, Bhatia needed to hole out for his own birdie four just to tie but he was up to the task and he went on to win the playoff at the first extra hole.

CLUTCH!@AkshayBhatia_1 birdies the par-5 18th to force a playoff @ValeroTXOpen. pic.twitter.com/MhL2ysKfq1

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 7, 2024

Now up to 32 in the Official World Rankings, Bhatia, who's the only wire-to-wire winner on the PGA Tour this year, appears to have a very bright future in the game and that may even include a major victory on Sunday.

He has everything andm including plenty of bottle, and he's a very fair price at around 200.0199/1.

Jake Knapp @ 390.0389/1

Maturing at a slightly slower rate than Bhatia, fellow Californian, Jake Knapp, has also won recently on the PGA Tour, and he too looks overpriced this week.

The 29-year-old got off the mark at the Mexico Open back in February and he led at the halfway stage of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson Championship just two weeks ago before rounds of 67 and 70 saw him slip to eighth.

Knapp is long off the tee so this venue may should suit him, and it all depends on his iron play. He ranked first for Strokes Gained: Approach in Mexico and fourth at the Byron Nelson and if he can put up similar numbers this week, he may well contend again.

Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 & 12 Us @ 2.01/1

The CJ Cup Byron Nelson Championship winner, Taylor Pendrith, is another worthy of consideration given how well he played at last week's Wells Fargo Championship.

Dave Tindall put him up in his each-way column at a cracking price, 200/1201.00 with 12 places. That price is understandably gone now but he's still a fair price on the Exchange at around 250.0249/1.

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